1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the use of mobile handheld devices. More specifically, it relates to utilizing mobile handheld devices to share data objects.
2. Background Description
As the infrastructure for mobile access to the World Wide Web grows, the number of possible applications also proliferates. Acceptance of the mobile world wide Web also continues to grow, specifically in Japan and Europe. By September 2000, the NTT DoCoMo I-mode service had over 15 million users. I-mode services, by September 2000, included banking, trade (credit card of, securities, insurance), travel services, ticket services (concerts, events, etc.), restaurant information, e-mail, news, games, and animated cartoons. The vision of personal services and e-commerce accessible via a handheld device is an exciting one.
However, some of the characteristics of mobile handheld devices such as smart phones, smart communicators, and mobile PDAs, present hardware challenges to the development of wireless world wide Web applications. The mobile handheld devices have small memory, low-power CPUs, small displays, restricted colors and fonts, and a restricted input method. Such hardware restrictions have triggered the development of the compact Markup language (compact HTML), the Wireless Mark up language (WML) and the wireless applications protocol (WAP).
The infrastructure in place as of 2000 uses either compact HTML (c-HTML) or the wireless applications protocol (WAP) and its markup language WML. The NTT DoCoMo I-mode service, with 21.7 million subscribers (which constitutes approximately 60% of the world wide wireless internet users), uses c-HTML and a packet switched internet protocol system besides a traditional circuit switched system (PDC—Personal Digital Cellular). (In circuit switched systems, after a connection is made, part of the network is dedicated to that connection. In packet switched networks, the information is divided into packets, sent through the network and reassembled at the receiving end; thus, the entire network is available to all connections.) Compact HTML does not accept JPEG images. In the I-mode service, images must be in GIF format, of up to 256 colors (8 bit color), and of 94 by 72 dot size. In I-mode, the content (that is, the web sites of interest) is provided by service providers using HTTP, the standard web protocol, to a so called I-mode center. The I-mode center converts the HTTP protocol to the reduced protocol accepted by the phones thereby enabling the content to be delivered to the phone.
The other 39% of the wireless internet users use phones that utilize the wireless applications protocol (WAP). As of 2000, WAP enabled phones utilized the existing circuit switched network. The markup language for WAP is WML. Similar to HTML, WML is read and interpreted by a browser (a micro-browser) built into the WAP enabled device. The WAP protocol specification allows only for one graphic format, WBMP, a one (1) bit version of the BMP format. As of 2000, only one WAP browser accepted color images. In WAP enabled phones, when the user, via a micro-browser, requests a URL, the request for the URL is sent to a WAP gateway. The gateway connects to the Internet and serves an interface between the Internet service at a web server and the WAP-enabled phones. Some WAP gateways convert HTML documents into WML. In other cases, the web server containing the service (web pages) of interest provides the WML documents.
Although the bandwidth available for wireless transmission is increasing as the wireless systems migrate to the third and fourth generation, bandwidth is always a scarce commodity. (The bandwidth of 2 G and 2.5 G systems results in long transmission times for large files.) The same hardware and bandwidth restrictions make the sharing of large data objects, such as images, digital audio files, and large documents difficult.
Several solutions have been proposed and implemented in order to enable the handling of large data objects. DoCoMo introduced a unit with a camera, Camesse, that is capable of acquiring a 110 K image and transmitting it to another phone or to a PC (See WSJ.com, “From Smart Card to Video Goggles: A Global Guide to Nifty Devices”, Aug. 3, 2000). This camera enables the sharing of images between two parties or, following a many step process, the sharing of images using a PC and the Internet. DoCoAl.com provides a service that allows e-mails created on a PC or Camesse device and containing attached images to provide a link, accessible through a mobile device, to the attached image (“Send images to I-mode phones”, MobileMediaJapan.com, http://www.MobileMediaJapan.com/newsdaek/docoal, May 7, 2001). However, the sharing of images between multiple users via mobile handheld devices is not enabled. LightSurf has developed technologies to optimize and speed up the transfer of images from one wireless device to another or to a wired device such as a PC. However, the LightSurf technology does not enable the sharing of images between multiple users. Thus, users are not provided with the opportunity to share large data objects, such as images or digital audio files, with multiple users.